General Motors executive unsure if Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will remain with Chevrolet
FORT WORTH, Texas – Earnhardt Ganassi Racing has not announced a manufacturer for 2010, and while General Motors is pleased with the EGR performance this year, General Motors Racing manager Mark Kent said it remains to be seen whether the two-car team will remain Chevrolet next year.
General Motors had to renegotiate its contracts with its teams as it went through bankruptcy organization over the summer. Team officials have said since that time that they are still trying to decide on manufacturer for 2010.
“We’re working through our lineup for next year and one thing we never do is talk about status of contracts and where we are with teams,” Kent said in an interview earlier this week. “I’m very impressed with what Juan Pablo Montoya has done with this year. He’s really the underdog and the darkhorse of the Chase For The [Sprint] Cup.
“They’re doing a great job on track, and we’ll see what we can do to keep them in a bowtie next year, but again, you know how this business is and people move around, not only from team to team but manufacturer to manufacturer. It’s still just a little early to tell what’s going to happen there.”
Kent said the manufacturer doesn’t have a deadline for a decision from EGR. Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing have all indicated their intentions to remain Chevrolet teams next year.
Chip Ganassi Racing was a Dodge team but switched to Chevrolet for 2009 after its merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc.
If EGR switches from Chevrolet to another manufacturer (the most likely one being Toyota), it could create an awkward situation with EGR not in a Chevrolet but the Earnhardt Childress Racing Technologies company building Chevrolet engines.
